


Flunky

by nonamemanga



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, As far as he doesnt know yet?, Canon Compliant, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, One Shot, Pre-Canon, Pre-Kerberos Mission, mostly?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-15
Updated: 2017-03-15
Packaged: 2018-10-05 09:04:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10303085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nonamemanga/pseuds/nonamemanga
Summary: To be fair, Keith did fill out the paperwork.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Before you read, I just need to disclose that only Keith and Iverson show up. Everyone else is either mentioned or referred to.
> 
> I'm a big fan of pairings and all but I didn't feel that I could contribute to how angry Keith was or what his feelings towards Shiro maybe but in the future I'll definitely write something exploring those ideas. For now, I just wanted to provide maybe an alternate suggestion for why Keith was "booted from the garrison."

Keith didn’t flunk out because of a pilot error. He didn’t flunk out for problems with authority and there was no fight for someone's honor that got him expelled either. What happened was this.

Iverson had several forms, neatly displayed on his desk. His eye was serious, a gruff but blank expression sat on his face and Keith just stood there, straight back, proper uniform and the formal bloody hat on top his head to boot. He looked like a soldier and its laughable because in less than five minutes, he wasn’t going to be a soldier anymore. Or a pilot for that matter.

“Cadet Kogane, I have received your withdrawal request from Professor Fokker. Can you explain to me why you are so stupid as to throw away your future?”

Iverson spoke so plainly, with the tone one would use to talk about the weather or a mildly dissatisfying meal. He tapped his pen while he waited for Keith’s response.

“Sir…” Keith started but paused. There was a beat, silence besides Iverson’s slow tapping.

He started again, “I respectfully cannot continue here at the garrison due to personal reasons.”

_That sounds ok. Neutral. Right?_

Behind the desk, Iverson frowns and somehow looks more unimpressed than he did before.

“You better have a better reason than that.” Iverson growled.

“Kogane, you have nowhere else to go. The garrison has spent a lot of time and effort to get you to where you are now and that was with the expectation you would give back that respect once you graduated. Do you realize that you can’t actually withdraw? You belong here at the garrison.”

Iverson’s a large man, behind the desk he looks even larger, imposing. He worked hard to get to where he is and he has his picks for cadets he thinks can work hard too. In some well-meaning way he connects with his students. Shirogane had been his brightest cadet, working hard and quickly rising through the ranks. Kogane had been close behind him, breaking sim records and well on his way to graduating within the year.

Shirogane had disappeared just last week, he didn’t want to see another promise fall through the cracks.

“Sir, with respect, you don’t own me”

“Well we do. Do you think that just because you’re good at flying we need you? There are plenty of others, more invested cadets, that want to take your place in the program? If you’re having problems, beat it out, go to the infirmary, talk to a fucking psychologist, I don’t care what but ‘personal reasons’ aren’t going to cut it. You’re strong, don’t be so stupid.”

Keith, though impatient, knows when survival could be on the line. Prioritizing is vital, and right now he can’t stay in the garrison.

“Sir, I wrote down quite clearly in my withdrawal forms that I have financial and familial concerns that- “

“Boy, you do not have a family. Cut this bullshit. Shirogane wasn’t your family and his aunt can grieve without you.” Iverson is unforgiving but he knows there’s a risk of losing Kogane to civilian life. A family member who just lost their last relative can be angry and, if Shirogane’s aunt was anything like him, persuasive.

“I- “

“Cadet, your request to withdraw is denied. I better not hear about this again.”

\--  


It took less than a week for Keith to fail every examination, argue with a professor and fight with security officers trying to put the Kerberos mission files public online. He ultimately proves to be too dangerous to keep around and the garrison boots him out, bumping a cargo pilot into his spot and accepting a 14-year-old hacker prodigy into the aerospace program to distract from the scandal the last prodigy made.

No one realizes that there is a 19-year-old living in an unmapped shack in the desert, dreaming of a blue lion and hearing a voice in his head telling him to be ready for the arrival.

It came one year later.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a self-indulgent piece. I’m currently having difficulties with professors (who don’t fucking realize that their patronizing attitude towards their students about environmental literature really shows their inherently eurocentric and accidentally racist views of the world. They smile and say they are teaching us how to write but in reality they just don’t care about the subject material enough to look beyond their own initial understandings much less understand why students may struggle to get respond to prompts in the way they are expecting.) so I needed to vent. With Voltron on my mind, what better way could I deal with it than explore Keith’s expulsion.
> 
> I realize in the show they don’t care too much for world building (I guess they leave that for the comics?) and furthermore they don’t want to expand too much anything that happened before Shiro’s return to earth besides plot-relevant memories of his imprisonment.
> 
> I also realize that Keith expressed feeling lost after getting booted and his attitude is very action oriented but there is a great difference between inaction and feeling lost. I also have found it incredibly contradictory in the series that Keith apparently planned for the arrival with explosives and escape route but is too hot headed to be a strategic thinker anywhere else? IDK I haven’t read any of the comics so I while I find the series incredibly engaging, I also find the plots to be a bit contrived at times to avoid actual character development.
> 
> Headcannon: Shiro's parents passed away when he was six. Since then he grew up with his aunt in California and his grandparents in Japan, living year around with his aunt and visiting his grandparents during vacations. His grandparents passed away after he entered the Garrison and after his second year, he started bringing Keith home to his aunt during vacations. Shiro's aunt, who will be nameless until I can think of a good mech reference besides Pacific Rim, is listed as Keith's emergency contact along with Shiro. She also tried to reach out to Keith but he disappeared after getting kicked out of the garrison and becoming a hermit. Needless to say, she thinks there is a conspiracy at the garrison and now I want to write a story about her in the same AU gosh darnit
> 
> Come bother me on Tumblr!! nonamemanga.tumblr.com


End file.
